


Down the RABIT Hole

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Down the RABIT Hole [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Assisted Suicide, F/M, M/M, Parental Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2013-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 05:21:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sidney Crosby may have been the one that came up with the idea, but with the world ending, the rest of the NHL is on board.</p><p>A free-form Pacific Rim fusion fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down the RABIT Hole

_Some things are constant._

\----

**0\. Duncs and Seabs, 2018**

“You and me, brother?”

“You and me.”

\----

_And some things are open to change._

\----

**7\. Patrick and Abby, 2019**

The thing is, Abby’s _fierce_. No one had been surprised when Sharpy had signed up for Drift testing along with the majority of the NHL, but pretty much everyone (except Patrick himself) had been thrown for a loop when Abby asked to be tested for Drift compatibility with him.

Once they reconcile her desire to stand by her husband’s side, though, no one had been surprised when they passed with flying colors. In fact, they’re one of the first five former civilian pairs to get a proper Jaeger run.

That also means they’re one of the first civilian pairs to die.

(Jonny doesn’t know what to do when he finds out they named him Madelyn’s guardian in the event that they didn’t make it back from a Kaiju run.

The second he sees the way Kaner holds her after the funeral, though, he thinks he understands. Better him and the relative safety of his work than Kaner and the danger of having a father in the line of fire. Again.)

\----

**6\. Patrick Squared, 2020**

Falling into Sharpy’s mind is almost frighteningly easy. They’ve always been close, always been able to read each other on the ice, been able to finish each other’s sentences almost from the beginning. Sharpy’s been there through all of Pat’s shit, strong and centered and balanced, helping him when the therapy got too tough, holding his hand through the worst of the night terrors after they get called up for active duty.

After Sid and Jonny go out and don’t come back.

(Because of course fucking _Sidney Crosby_ had to be part of the first civilian pair to go out into battle. It’s just Pat’s luck that Jonny had the highest compatibility scores with the goddamn perfectionist bastard. That he had the same commitment to the cause that Crosby did.

That Pat fell in love with the idiot and was enough of an idiot himself never to tell him.)

So, yeah, after all that Sharpy’s done for him over the years, it’s easy to fall in sync with him.

What isn’t easy is knowing that if he slips up, he’s leaving Abby all alone.

\----

_Some things always happen the same way._

\----

**0\. Ebs and Hallsy, 2017**

For Jordan, getting called up is terrifying, but getting placed with Hallsy is unsurprising.

For Taylor, getting called up is unsurprising, but getting placed with Ebs is terrifying.

For both of them, the first Drift is the last straw.

Jordan’s the one that chases Hallsy down, shouting the whole way until he finally catches him by the shoulder, turning him around to face him.

He barely takes in the way Taylor won’t even look at him before he bites out, “The hell was that, Taylor?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The RABIT you chased. What. The hell.”

“I already apologized, to you and to the Marshal. What the hell else do you want from me?”

“Some goddamn _honesty_ , that’s what.”

Taylor looks physically pained. “Are you actually going to make me say it? After all these years? Because there’s no way... there’s _no way_ you didn’t know.”

“Know?” Taylor looks away until Jordan grabs him by the chin, forcing him to look up at him. “Know _what_ , Taylor?”

“That I’m in love with you.”

Jordan draws back as if burned, leaving Taylor to just smile wryly up at him.

“I’ll have the Marshal draw up the transfer orders first thing tomorrow.”

Jordan just stands there, doubly stunned, as Taylor walks away from him.

From them.

He doesn’t move for almost an hour.

\----

_And others happen differently every time._

\----

**2\. Ovechkin and Malkin, 2020**

At first, they hardly speak outside of their girl.

Alex is pissed that Zhenya dragged him into this world, that he had to leave Maria with Nadia instead of being her partner instead, that he has to share his mind with _Zhenya_ , of all people, after all they’ve been through.

Zhenya keeps quiet about it, patient and yielding everywhere Alex doesn’t expect him to be. And then.

And then.

And then they see Sid and Jonny go down on the news, and Zhenya’s an absolute mess about it and suddenly everything changes. Because now they’re facing the reality of what this job could be, what it _means_ , and suddenly the pettiness of resenting Zhenya for coaxing them into this world is nothing to the potential of _losing_ Zhenya or Maria.

The next time they Drift, he opens himself up to Zhenya the way Zhenya always has to him, only to find that, now, Zhenya’s the one that’s closed himself off.

He knows he can’t blame himself for it entirely, but he also knows that he put some of that resistance into Zhenya’s mind.

He hates that.

\----

**1\. Maria and Alex, 2018**

Maria is strong and beautiful and brilliant, and Alex knew it from the moment he met her.

When the NHL goes almost en masse to enlist in the Jaeger program, she’s the one that asks why he didn’t follow.

“Did you want me to?”

“I want you happy, Alex.”

“I’m happy with you.”

She looks him in the eyes. “I’ve been thinking about enlisting.”

He closes his eyes and tries not to let the fear eat him up before opening them again, slowly. “Alright.”

“I want you to be my copilot.”

He smiles, a little sadly. “Alright.”

“That easy?” She looks surprised.

“That easy.”

\----

_Some are a little of both._

\----

**0\. Carts and Richie, 2021**

“Did we do the right thing?”

Mike downs his whole beer in one go and doesn’t answer.

“Mike. Mike, please. Did we?”

“I don’t fucking know, Jeff, okay? But it was _Crosby_. He’s the reason any of us found work after this whole mess. What the hell else were we supposed to do?”

Jeff swallows and looks away. “Kaner--”

“Will grow up and get the hell over himself if he wants to keep that co-pilot of his alive.”

Jeff’s eyes go glassy, and Mike can feel the barest brush of everything he’s feeling through their half-open Drift. “Sure, Mike. Whatever you say.”

\----

_There’s how it could have happened._

\----

**4\. Crosby and Toews, 2020**

_Sid had only been a little surprised to find Jonny beside him the day he got cleared for his first Jaeger run. His girl’s a Mark II--Chrome Brutus--and she’s_ beautiful _, and even though there’s one person he’d rather share her with over Jonny, he’d known long before then that that would never be an option. Vladivostok had called him up before Anchorage could get to him, and, really, Sid can’t blame them._

_So if he’d had to choose a copilot, Jonny would have been it._

_He’d just been surprised the brass didn’t put him with Kaner instead._

_“You ready to fly this bad boy?” Jonny had asked him with a grin._

_Sid could only smile back._

The RABIT tugs at Sid, even now, years later, and it takes everything he has to drag himself back, only to find that now Jonny’s under, even deeper than he had been.

“Not now, Jonny. Please, Jonny, not now. I know this is my fault, but please, Jonny, please, I need--”

The Kaiju slams hard into their left side, sending them crashing to the ground. The damn thing had made land before they could get there to meet Carts and Richie, who sound half-dead on their feet over the coms after four hours straight of trying to tame the damn thing. And now, if Jonny keeps this up, they’ll end up being dead weight instead of anything like help.

“Jonny. Jonny, _please_.”

Another knock to the side, and Sid has to drag them back to their feet on his own. His whole body aches, and his brain hurts and he doesn’t think there’s any way they can stop this one--it’s too strong, too fast, and too _solid_ for them to get anything like a handle on him long enough for them to get anything done, unless--

Unless.

The idea shocks Jonny away from the RABIT and leaves him gaping at Sidney. “Sid--” he starts.

But the second Sidney looks at him, they both know they don’t have any other option.

Jonny closes his eyes. _I never even told him._

Sid smiles wryly back. _Me neither._

_Together, then?_

_Together._

Getting ahold of the damn Kaiju and emptying their entire clip into its head isn’t half as hard as convincing Carts to finish them off with the last of their payload when it goes on writhing and screeching in their arms.

“Goddammit Carts, we don’t have time for--”

It must be Richards that gets through to him, though, because Sid isn’t even halfway through his latest argument when Mammoth Apostle’s arm comes up to aim at them.

Sid lets his relief bleed over into Jonny, trying to soothe the regret he can feel rolling off his partner. _It’s gonna be okay, Jonny._

_How can you--?_

_Same way I know Geno’ll be fine. They have their partners, just like you and I have each other. They’ll be fine._

_Promise?_

_Promise._

(Neither of them fully believes it.)

\----

_And there’s how it actually happened._

\----

**5\. Tazer and Kaner, 2018**

They fit.

That’s the amazing thing. They _fit_.

Jonny’s known that for years, known it since they clicked their rookie year, since they won the cup the first time. The second time had just been icing.

And then the world fell apart and everything was different and he’d been sure they couldn’t have this too.

But they _fit_.

They fit, and they go on their first run and, sure, they needed Sid and Geno’s help on that first run, but they _pull it off_. They kill a Kaiju and they save lives and they _save the world_ , and Jonny never thought he was meant for all that, but apparently he is.

And, maybe better than all that, is that Pat’s trusting him with this. With his mind and his heart and his soul. His _everything_. It’s more than Jonny deserves, but he’ll take it.

Because Pat’s heart is just as beautiful as Jonny always knew it would be, and if getting to be a part of it like this is the silver lining of the disaster their world has fallen into, then Jonny will take it.

He’ll take it.

For as long as he can have it.

\----

**3\. Zhenya and Sid, 2017**

When it had first happened, all Sidney had wanted was to be able to do something. Just. Something. _Anything_ to keep the people he loved safe.

So when the government comes knocking on his door, he’s ready for them. Ready for them to try to get him to Drift with Jonny.

What he’s not ready for, is for that to fail.

Neither he nor Jonny are accustomed to failure.

The difference, though, is that Sid’s seen how the campaign is going. Seen how the world is still divided, for all its appearance of unity. So he goes to the Marshal with a plan.

He’s lucky, Pentecost tells him, that the Russians haven’t caught on to the idea of using hockey players as pilots. It makes it easy for them to get Geno out of Russia and into training with Sidney. Sidney only hopes he’ll think it’s worth it.

(Six kills later, the Marshal knows it was.)

\----

**Taylor, 2025**

Taylor’s tired of seeing her brother like this. She’s tired of seeing him broken down and motionless. She knows as well as her parents that he’s not coming back from this, that he’s been functionally brain dead since he took down that Kaiju in San Diego with Mike and Jeff. Since.

Since Geno died, still bound to Sidney.

The Marshal never told their family much about what exactly happened, but Taylor’s studied the Neural Handshake enough to have a pretty good idea.

That doesn’t mean she likes to think about it.

She sits down at his bedside, running her fingers through his hair.

“It’s over now, Sidney. They did it. They sealed the breach. No more Kaiju. None. They did it.

“You remember Raleigh, don’t you? He was with you and Geno at Anchorage before you... Well, he and the Marshal and Mako--you remember her, right?--the three of them... they did it. Them and Herc’s kid. They ended it.” She goes back to running her fingers through his hair, trying to soothe the last of her doubts. “You should have been there, Sid. You should have _seen_ it. They were... they were amazing.”

He doesn’t answer. He never does.

“I’m sorry I let Mom and Dad keep you like this for so long. I know you’d never have wanted it. But they had the money. _You_ had the money. And they didn’t want to let you go. And to be honest, neither did I. But I think.

“I think I’m ready.”

She stays for another hour, just watching him. Touching him. Being in the same space as him.

When she leaves, she nods to the doctor, and knows this will be the last time.


End file.
